Tyndall EOD Airman selected for 'Portraits in Courage'

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Reel
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Staff Sgt. Aaron Carroll, an explosive ordinance disposal Airman with the 325th Civil Engineer Squadron, was selected to be acknowledged in 'Portraits in Courage,' Volume 6 for his valiant actions during his deployment on Nov. 26, 2010.

'Portraits in Courage' is a compilation of narratives highlighting 18 Airmen who put service before self and exhibited warrior ethos.

Sergeant Carroll was working at Sonic and a Chinese restaurant as a delivery boy prior to joining the U.S. Air Force. He said he didn't see himself going where he wanted to go in life and decided to enlist.

His father was in the Air Force and provided much help when he was picking his career, a career that would, in turn, put him in the right place at the right time.

He has an older half brother and younger sister. Sergeant Carroll has been married for eight years and has a 6-year-old son. 

Talking about his previous deployments, Sergeant Carroll shrugs, grins and replies, "It's war. You get shot at. You get blown up. You do your job and go home."

His demeanor, which could easily be worn and uncharismatic, is anything but. As he began to discuss the events during his most recent deployment, he set the tone of the conversation by breaking up the sentences with smiles and animated facial expressions.

"While everyone probably back in the states enjoyed their 'Black Friday' shopping, this is how I spent mine," said Sergeant Carroll.

His uplifting gestures would continue throughout his story, even through the darkest descriptions of his 'Black Friday.'

"Prior to Nov. 26, we set up a new unit of service members," the sergeant said. "That took a little bit of time. We had to get to know the area and get a feel for the job. Our team got blown up once, just minor concussions."

He grins, and then shrugs, as he says, "Nothing serious."

November 26 started off like any other day with a route clearance, he began to explain.

"We drove around looking for Improvised Explosive Devices, which essentially are homemade bombs often found along or in the roadways," Sergeant Carroll said.

During their morning routine, around 10 a.m. the lead vehicle, occupied by a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, drove over and detonated an IED. The IED tore through the armored vehicle.

At the point of the explosion, the team lost radio contact with the Marine.

They took precaution and swept the area with the metal detectors to make sure there weren't any other IED's that rescue teams could step on and set off.

"Immediately sweeping the area, the driver of the hit vehicle gets out and says he's okay," said Sergeant Carroll. "Fortunately, all he had was a minor concussion."

Sergeant Carroll began clearing an area approximately 40 yards in front of the damaged vehicle.

"I set my metal detector down and begin to take pictures," he said. "There is a lot going on and we need to document everything that happens. As I do this, the team leader tells me to check out where I'm standing to look for a pressure plate, and he was going to look where he was at."

At this point a Marine yells 'I found a pressure plate' explains the sergeant. He continues to explain that the team leader said they were good to continue.

"I scan the environment to look around to see if anyone was watching us or filming us," said Sergeant Carroll. "That's when I hear a really loud explosion. People talk about when time slows down and time stopping, I could see every grain of sand and dust in the air. My initial thoughts were someone blew something up very close to me, and I don't hear any screaming or yelling so everything must good. It's a good day; let's get back on the road."

This took him roughly a minute to explain but he said it took maybe 60 milliseconds to run through his head.

"That's when I turned around and saw one of the Marines maybe 10 feet from me," he said. "He was lying on the bank. Not seeing anything from his waist down, I get on my hands and knees and clear my way down to him."

Sergeant Carroll moves his hands through the air almost as if swimming the breast stroke, imitating clearing sand searching with his bare hands for IED's.

"When I get to him he still has his legs; well from the knees down was like spaghetti," Sergeant Carroll said passively. "Fragments of his legs were held together with some muscle tissue and skin. I can't watch surgery shows on TV, but I had no problems with this when I was there. All the training and everything they prepare us for kicks in - it's second nature."

He continued to clear around the Marine on his hands and knees.

"We knew there was a primary IED and now a secondary," added Sergeant Carroll. "We didn't know how many there are out here. We were going to have a medical evacuation team coming out and we didn't need anybody else getting blown up."

While he cleared around the Marine, Sergeant Carroll continued to talk to him making sure he stayed conscious so he could assess what was wrong with him.

"He's saying 'it hurts'," said Sergeant Carroll.

"Well of course it hurts, you just got blown up!" was his reply as he chuckled.

Now that the area was cleared, Sergeant Carroll began to look for severed arteries and any other injuries.

"I start reaching for a tourniquet, when I hear another explosion," he said. "As I turn, I look to see my team leader on the ground in the blast hole from the IED that hit the vehicle. Just prior to this I tell another Marine, 'I need Doc (a Navy Doctor) and I need MedEvac now!' I can remember the voice that came out of my mouth wasn't my own - I'm a very nice guy - but this voice was very angry and very assertive."

The doctor made his way down to assist Sergeant Carroll and the injured Marine.

"I wanted to get him off the bank just a little bit, because I haven't cleared all the way to the bottom," Sergeant Carroll added. "I tell him he's going to be fine, but I have to check on these guys (affected by the second blast). So I start going on hands and knees clearing my way to the road."

Once back on the road, he began to clear his way down to his team leader. He clears sand and gravel with his hands looking for any possible IED's. This also will act as a cleared path for the medical team to assist.

"I ask him questions on what happened, just trying to jog his memory to understand what's going on with him and to figure out what happened; because once he gets on the helicopter the mission here still isn't done," he said. "I ask him what he's feeling. His arm is like a long clown balloon full of water. It was broken in about six places."

"He kept saying his stomach hurt, his stomach hurt," he added. "I lifted up his vest and there is a hole."

Sergeant Carroll's eyes got wide as he talked with his hands pointing at an imaginary body.

"I can see everything. There's an intestine, (and) there's a tummy. But it was strange, he wasn't bleeding," he explained. "The whole time we're talking having a good time, well, having as much of a good time as you can given the circumstances."

A team member crawls down to assist Sergeant Carroll.

"He looks up at my female colleague and asks how he's doing, she responds 'yah man you're fine, you'll be picking up chicks at the bar in no time,' and he chuckles, I'm thinking okay; he's going to be okay," said Sergeant Carroll.

Between the first and second explosion was approximately two minutes, said the sergeant.

"Everything happened so fast; everything we did happened within less than two minutes, though it took much longer to explain."

After getting them on the stretchers and into the truck, Sergeant Carroll and the rest of the team continue to sweep the area on their hands and knees.

Sergeant Carroll reiterates how he put down his metal detector to take pictures. When he went to pick up his detector he noticed it was 12 to 18 inches from the blast hole.

"This meant that I took the same path but for whatever grace of God, or dumb luck, or what have you, I still have my legs," he said. "It's a crazy feeling knowing that I was right there, yet kind of unnerving because I was there and didn't stop it."

The two Marines lost their legs, there were two members with third-degree concussions, four or six people with grade-two concussions, one person with a grade-one concussion, and the bomb dog also had a concussion.

"Once again by divine right or what have you, I was the closest to the blast and I didn't have any injuries, not even a concussion," said Sergeant Carroll.

His light-heartedness, he said, is a common trait among EOD specialists. It is almost like a coping mechanism.

"Having a good attitude and a good look on things when things get bad also helps keep the injured calm," he added.

This was Sergeant Carroll's Black Friday. "Just doing my job," he said.

Unfortunately, there is a common misconception that Air Force members just fly planes, he explained.

"This isn't the case at all," he added. "Air Force EOD have been doing the bulk of the Afghanistan mission until just a few years ago. Air Force EOD, at one point, had more EOD techs in theater than the Marines did."

"The Air Force doesn't get much credit for what we do," he added. "When I was there, there were other service members saying 'hey, you are just 'chair force' what do you know?' But when I left, our Air Force crew was replaced with Marines; and they didn't want Marines. They wanted an Air Force team. And that's something that has to be proven, and I did that."